Pizza Slices

Slice of Life: October 25, 2011

We had a frozen pizza for dinner one night recently. A pan pizza. “Pan” meaning “square,” of course. It was a nice-quality pizza with tangy sauce and a crispy but not-too-thin crust. My four-year-old wouldn’t eat it. He was upset because of the shape. In his experience, pizzas were round, consisting of triangular-shaped pieces. He said he would only eat triangles, not squares.

My pizza experience has taught me to appreciate pizza of all shapes. My homemade pizza is generally round on one side, with a couple of odd angles jutting out the other side. Still pizza. If my life is a pizza, sometimes I’m overwhelmed by the number of toppings on one piece. Or by the simple size of the slice. Maybe, like my son, I’m thrown off by the unusual shape it’s presented in.

The pizza cutter, however, is one of my favorite kitchen utensils. When life gives you pieces that are too large, a few techniques can help you manage. No matter the shape of the pizza, the pizza cutter makes cutting it easy.

Also, I’m really impressed with the person who combined the inventions of knife and wheel to create the first pizza cutter. Amazing.

No matter its shape or size, the pizza we call life can be satisfying and even fun. Sometimes we just need to work harder to recognize how life’s most promising adventures present themselves.

Flossing in Relief Society

Slice of Life: October 11, 2011

I’m not a very formal person. I wear flip-flops. Lots of t-shirts and jeans. Loungey pants at home. Occasionally I’ll venture out to get the paper or chase the kids in my jammies, and I definitely dress down to mow the lawn or go running, but I try to dress a little nicer when I go places.

I like to think I act a little nicer, too. Not just being kind to people, but being…proper, I guess? I never thought of myself as too proper a person, but writing something like this may just slam me into that category. So here I am.

What bugs me that people do in public that I wish they would keep inside their own homes… or more, specifically in some instances, bathrooms:

• Flossing.
• Nose picking.
• Eye drop dripping.
• Nose spray spraying.
• Nail clipping.
• Swearing.
• Split-end splitting.

A time and place for everything. If it comes out of, or off of your body, think twice before doing it in public.

There are some things that should not be done in front of the world.

Hot Chocolate Stains

Sometimes I too violently stir my hot chocolate. Spills everywhere. Just like my kids.

Some people think hot chocolate is a seasonal beverage, served only after frolicking in snowdrifts and stacking snowmen. I maintain that it’s desirable year-round, and savor the sweet nectar even in the heat of the summer.

Homemade hot chocolate is a lot better than instant, and does remain in my heart a cold weather-season drink. My mom and I would only make the from-scratch version on chilly fall or winter days after a day of yardwork or play. I loved coming in smelling like leaves, rain, or snow, and warming up to a warm mug of the stuff. We’d scoop it out with a large metal ladle into mismatched mugs and cups and watch smiles appear on red-cheeked faces.

Instant hot chocolate and its ever-presentness has spoiled the romance of this image a bit for me. I started seeing hot chocolate as an anytime treat somewhere between high school and college. Sometimes I just need sugar. And chocolate. And those little packets are inexpensive and ohsoconvenient.

The homemade version on winter days is still magical, but, like my kids, I can’t wait that long for it. I drink it almost every day. I just need to stir more slowly.

A Plus-Sized Slice of Life

Speaking of slices, I just had a slice of coconut cream pie. A large slice. I’m pretty sure that negated the calories burned from running five miles this morning and mowing the lawn this afternoon.

I’ve long ago come to the conclusion that I’ll never be skinny. I like cookies too much. And ice cream. And pretty much any type of sweet or bread.

I try to keep my life in balance. That’s why I run. I’ve only ran one 5K, two 10Ks and two half marathons this year, but I keep moving enough to only let about half of the calories I ingest affect my thighs too much (I really have no idea, it's just a guess).

Here it is. I’m about to share one of my biggest fears. Please don’t judge me too harshly. I’m deathly afraid of watching the news one day and a story will come on about the obesity epidemic in America, and I will recognize MYSELF as one of the large characters walking around in the B-roll background footage as the reporter cites depressing statistics. Well, I’m pretty sure I’m not there yet. Maybe I should sign up for another race this year, though.

Good vs. Good

This is definitely a rougher time of life. There are so many things I “need” to do, yet can’t seem to accomplish. This morning, I wanted to go running, but was afraid of my kids being scared if I wasn’t there when they woke up. Since the kids are with their dad now, I thought it would be a good time to go to the temple. But the lawn needed mowing. I got some reading done for one of my classes, then realized I read the wrong article.

I’m finding myself heading back into survival mode. I do what I can to stay sane and happy, which sometimes doesn’t make sense to other people. I did another race by myself on Saturday. Races really help me clear my head. Especially fun, muddy, trail races. I like naps. I like folding laundry while watching TV.

Finding balance has always been difficult for me. Especially in the ratio of servings of ice cream vs. servings of vegetables eaten in a day. And in deciding which good thing to do—since with me it’s rarely a choice between something I shouldn’t be doing and something I need to do. The choices are between all good things. Just need to decide what to put on top:

Pay off credit card.

File agreement.

Work on online class.

File for extension for online class.

Work on 423 paper.

Work on 356 paper.

Pick topic for 356 project.

Go to the temple.

Go Visiting Teaching.

Read to my kids.

Help daughter with homework.

Email daughter’s teacher.

Put money in daughter’s lunch account.

Quilt the Irish Chain.

Turn in textbook and tuition receipts for scholarship reimbursement.

Go running.

Visit bedridden neighbor.

Play with my kids.

Hold my kids.

Read the scriptures.

Start planning presentations for TELL classes.

Call sisters.

Dig up photo for mission reunion.

Find a babysitter for mission reunion.

Catch up on 356 reading.

Balance checking account.

Take piggybanks to bank.

Sometimes list-making can be therapeutic. Sometimes it can be maddening.

Alternate Reality

Yesterday I think I did too much. Therefore, my mind and body are stagnant today.

After school we went to the library. Then we went to the gym, where I ran six miles while reading three scholarly articles for a class. Then home for dinner, then I mowed the lawn, took out the trash, did the dishes, bathed two sandy, grassy, wet kids, and did some laundry and homework. Doing so much yesterday seems to have created a major physical and mental block in me today.

My brain seems to have slowed down. A large BLT with homemade tomatoes is starting to help perk it up.

Maybe in the resurrection this type of frailty will be gone from me. Maybe that’s when I’ll rise up with the strength of the eagles promised in Isaiah. But for now, I'll have to settle with alternating days of productivity and apathy.